Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

City and urbanization has been subject to many fundamental qualitative and quantitative changes at the beginning of 21st century which is called the age of postmodernism, globalization, post-metropolitan, and etc. Present civilization is increasingly urbanized and demographic changes and social stratification has caused damaging consequences to social existence. The dimensions of urban settlements are increasing complicated and, as a result, human dangers are manifested in urban environments. Today, in fact, we encounter a kind of time contradiction in cities, in which 1- we have larger houses and smaller families, we have more comfort and less time; 2- we have more specialists and more problems, we have more medicines and less health; 3- we spend more and have less money, we buy more and enjoy less; 4- we have taller buildings and lower temper, we have wider freeways and narrower views; 5- we write more and learn less, we plan more and execute less; 6- we have more time and less entertainment, we have more food variety and unhealthier diet; 7- we have more income and more divorces, we have dreamlike houses and scattered (disintegrated) families. Using a pathologic approach and an analytical method, the present paper seeks to elaborate on the social and mostly multidimensional realities ruling the existence of cities, especially Iranian cities, at the age of post-metropolitan. The research findings indicate that demographic changes in recent decades and, as a result, urban heterogeneous social topography, emigration, social isolationism, suburbanization and inadequacy in providing services, social damages and negligence over social engineering are among the most important factors of human dangers in Iran's cities.